1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording disk drive incorporating a so-called load/unload mechanism designed to hold a head slider above the surface of a recording disk. The recording disk drive may be represented by a magnetic recording disk drive such as a hard disk drive (HDD).
2. Description of the Prior Art
For example, a load/unload mechanism incorporated in a hard disk drive (HDD) may include a load bar fixed at the tip end of a head suspension so as to extend forward from the head suspension, and a ramp member located outside the outer periphery of a magnetic recording disk or hard disk. The ramp member is designed to receive the load bar when the magnetic recording disk stands still. When the load bar is supported on the ramp member, a head slider at the tip end of the head suspension is kept away from the surface of the magnetic recording disk even when the magnetic recording disk stands still.
A conventional load/unload mechanism involuntarily allows a drop of the load bar from the ramp member if a hard impact acts on the HDD. If the load bar is caused to fall off from the ramp bar in this manner, the head slider inevitably contacts the surface of the magnetic recording disk. An adsorption acts on the head slider from a lubricating agent or oil spreading over the surface of the magnetic recording disk. Such adsorption hinders the rotation of the magnetic recording disk. In this situation, the magnetic recording disk cannot even start rotating.
In general, the head slider is released from the support by the load/unload mechanism at a specific position above the surface of the magnetic recording disk. A marginal area, not applicable to recordation of data, is preferably defined on the surface of the magnetic recording disk below the specific position of the head slider. In the case where the head slider takes off at the specific position outside the outermost recording track in a conventional manner, the marginal area of a predetermined width should be defined outside the outermost recording track. If the marginal area can be transferred to the inner area around the rotational axis of the magnetic recording disk, the data area can be expanded or enlarged on the surface of the magnetic recording disk.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a load/unload mechanism capable of stably keeping the connection between a ramp member and a head suspension when a recording disk stands still. It is another object of the present invention to provide a load/unload mechanism capable of reducing a marginal area, not applicable to recordation of data, on the surface of a recording disk so as to contribute to an efficient utilization of a limited area over the recording disk.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording disk drive comprising: a swinging arm designed to swing around a support shaft from a standby position; a head suspension attached to an end of the swinging arm so as to extend forward from the swinging arm; a load bar attached to an end of the head suspension so as to extend forward from the head suspension; a ramp member designed to receive the load bar when the swinging arm swings toward the standby position; and a suspension holding member connected to the head suspension when the swinging arm reaches the standby position.
A combination of the load bar and the ramp member serves to establish a load/unload mechanism in the recording disk drive. The load/unload mechanism allows the load bar to be held on the ramp member when the recording disk stands still. The load bar serves to keep the head suspension distanced away from a recording disk.
In general, the head suspension is allowed to swing in the vertical direction about the tip end of the swinging arm. The amplitude of displacement gets larger at a location remoter from the swinging arm. If any hard impact acts on the recording disk drive from the outside, the load bar received on the ramp member inevitably suffers from a relatively larger displacement. On the other hand, the magnitude of displacement can be suppressed at the head suspension which is located nearer to the swinging arm as compared with the load bar. If the head suspension is coupled to the suspension holding member, it is possible to reliably prevent release of the connection between the head suspension and the suspension holding member. A stable connection between the head suspension and the suspension holding member in this manner serves to reliably keep the load bar on the ramp member even when a hard impact acts on the recording disk drive from the outside.
In this type of the recording disk drive, a ramp member for a load/unload mechanism may comprise: a slant designed to receive a load bar extending forward from an end of a head suspension; and a suspension holding member connected to the head suspension when the slant receives the load bar, for example. In this case, a unitary member can be provided to comprise a slide defining the slant and the suspension holding member. The unitary member may be made from a hard plastic material such as an engineering plastic.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording disk drive comprising: a recording disk rotating around a rotational axis; a head slider supporting a head element and designed to move across the recording disk in a radial direction thereof; a head suspension supporting the head slider; a swinging arm supporting the head suspension and designed to cause the head slider to move in the radial direction of the recording disk; and a ramp member extending in the radial direction of the recording disk so as to cross a data area on the recording disk.
The recording disk drive allows the ramp member to support the head suspension above the recording disk as long as the head slider is located at a position above the data area. It is possible to reliably prevent the head slider from contacting or colliding against the recording disk. Even when any hard impact acts on the recording disk drive, the head suspension is reliably prevented from falling off from the ramp member. The head suspension may be supported directly on the ramp member. Alternatively, the head suspension may be supported on the ramp member through a load bar fixed at the tip end of the head suspension.
The recording disk drive of the second aspect may further comprise: an inner slant defined on the ramp member and designed to receive a load bar carried on the head suspension when the head slider takes an innermost effective flying position; and an outer slant defined on the ramp member and designed to receive the load bar when the head slider takes an outermost effective flying position, for example.
In general, a marginal area, not applicable to recordation of data, is preferably defined on the surface of a recording disk below a specific position at which a head slider takes off a ramp member in a load/unload mechanism, since there is a probability in which the head slider involuntarily collides against the surface of the recording disk after taking off the ramp member. The collision may induce a damage on the head slider, and/or generation of a scar or loss of a recorded information on the recording disk. In the case where the head slider takes off from the outer slant, the marginal area of a predetermined width should be defined over the outer peripheral area on the recording disk.
As conventionally known, a longer recording track can be defined on the surface of the recording disk at an outer position rather than at an inner position. In other words, a larger quantity of data can be recorded on the recording disk along an outer recording track rather than an inner recording track. Since the recording disk drive of the aforementioned type allows the head slider to take off the ramp member at the inner slant, the marginal area of a predetermined width should be defined over the inner area around the rotational axis of the recording disk. It is not necessary to define a marginal area of the predetermine width over the outer peripheral area on the recording disk. Specifically, it is possible to reduce the marginal area, not applicable to recordation of data, as compared with the case where the marginal area should be defined over the outer peripheral area. Accordingly, a limited area over the recording disk can be utilized in an efficient manner.